Opera Scotland

Puccini's La rondine opening in Glasgow

Posted 5 May 2014

The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland's enterprising choice of opera this spring is that rare bird, Puccini's La rondine (the swallow). Commissioned by Vienna's Carltheater to compose a Viennese style operetta, Puccini produced a work that was dismissed with faint praise and is only now being staged more frequently across the world.

The Head of Opera at the Conservatoire, Tim Dean, chose Rondine as suiting the voices of some of the postgraduate students at this stage in their development. The quality of work the Conservatoire is currently producing should not be underestimated. Some former students have furthered their careers admirably since they left. For example, it is not long since Anush Hovhannisyan and Michel de Souza were heard here in Conservatoire productions and now they are part of a small group of Jette Parker Young Artists at the Royal Opera House.